Doesn't matter what type of guitar you play—your lovely instrument should always be perfectly tuned. That is why we've created our guitar tuner so that you no longer worry about anything except for the song to play next.
Before diving deeper into different types of tunings and the ways to use a guitar tuner, let’s get back in time and see the story behind the instrument we are talking about here.
It turns out that the first mention of guitars appeared in the II millennium BC. The name “guitar” comes from the old Persian “chartar” meaning ‘four-string’. Ancestors of the guitar as we know it now arrive in Europe from Egypt and Mesopotamia and most often had just four strings.
The predecessors had a rounded elongated resonating hollow body and a long neck with strings strung on it. The body was made mostly from a hollowed-out of a whole piece of wood, tortoise-shell, or dried pumpkin.
As of today, the guitar is perhaps the most in-high-demand musical instrument all around the globe. It is infinitely used as an accompanying or solo instrument in many styles and directions of music, including romance, blues, country, flamenco, rock, jazz— acoustic, electric, bass.
There are many; however, let’s concentrate on the four main types of guitars—the most popular nowadays. Each of the types in its turn has dozens of subtypes. Anyway, whatever guitar you choose—it is an impossibly awesome instrument for you to show your artistry and enjoy music; playing the guitar unquestionably gives you unforgettable pleasure and memories.
Follow along to read about the most common types of guitars.
A thorny and long way of the acoustic guitar starts in the XIII century. If earlier musicians who played beautiful and enjoyable music for everyday people were considered to end in hell, in the early 14th century, the guitar became one of the most popular musical instruments among others and was very welcome everywhere. In the competition between the “related” viola and vihuela, the guitar received the greatest recognition, and after centuries, it still keeps its celebrity status and remains on the top of the game.
An acoustic guitar is an excellent instrument that allows you to play as it is, without plugging it into an amplifier. If you’re going to dive into the ocean of country, jazz, pop, and rock-n-roll—the acoustic guitar is your best ever choice. Once the electric guitar kid entered the stage, acoustic has lost a slice of its popularity, nevertheless, it still remains in the wishlists of many, and its sound is still so comforting and warm.
Born in the 30s, the electric guitar gained its exploding popularity among umpteenth musicians in a jiffy. The ability to connect it to an amplifier, made the electric guitar just indispensable for sound recording, speaking on TV, radio, and performing for a large audience. Today, the electric guitar is undeniably the most popular guitar in the world.
When the bass guitar was invented, it rapidly led to the emergence of a mountain of new musical styles. The instrument is a key ingredient in such music styles as rock, heavy metal, punk, etc. The pop music double bass was almost entirely replaced by the bass guitar as well, and such styles as reggae and jazz easily turn the bass guitar into a solo instrument if needed.
A tiny four-stringed plucked musical instrument similar to the guitar is used today for chord accompaniment in the song performance, as well as for playing solo.
A lot of people associate the ukulele with beautiful carefree Hawaiian music (ukulele from Hawaiian as “jumping flea”) because it appeared first in Hawaii and was a local adaptation of the Portuguese machete introduced to Hawaiians by Portuguese immigrants.
There are several types of ukuleles; the most common include soprano (standard ukulele), tenor, concert, baritone, and tenor. Rarely you can meet the sopranino (also called bambino, piccolo, or “pocket uke”), contrabass ukuleles, and bass.
Whether you’re just a newbie or a Guitar Pro—the key to your success and enjoyable play is a fine-tuned instrument. Always. Don’t even dream to be a virtuoso touching the out-of-tune guitar —you’ll never produce the sound that will be a pleasure to listen to.
For beginners: it is of utmost importance to keep track of your guitar tuning and to know exactly how to tune your guitar properly. Just imagine how disastrous can it be for the whole learning process and your desire to play in particular—playing out-of-tune guitar and picking up fake notes, so it’ll barely guide you in the right direction.
But the cherry on the cake is when you play in a band or even in an orchestra when the out-of-tune guitar will spoil the picture. It won’t be just you as a musician but the whole band—one wrong note produced by the only instrument is certainly enough to bury the whole work. Here is when a guitar tuner, digital or online, comes in handy. Any time before the high-performance time, just check your tuning, never hurts.
Even if you know how to fine-tune your guitar, there is more. A lot of musicians use not just one, but different tunings to get their unique and inimitable sound. This is extremely true for electric and bass guitars in such musical genres as rock, heavy metal, and punk.
That is why we highly recommend you to experiment with a variety of tunings: open tuning, drop tuning, or a standard one—just hit the Start Tuning button of our free online guitar tuner and give us the opportunity to hear your guitar.
If you just found out about guitar tuner and different tunings, we’ve put together a bunch of articles that may help you: everything about tunings, how they differ, where they can be used, etc. Read more about guitar tuning.
